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Talk:Henry IV, Part 1/@comment-24984436-20140604080800
One of the comical elements in Falstaff is his age and all the references to it (all the references during the play within a play ("old fat man," "old white-bearded Satan," "old, white hair," "old and merry," "old Jack Falstaff,"“my old lad of the castle” in Act I. 2, his complaints in act III.3 which portray him as an old wining man, whose “skin hangs about him like an old lady’s loose gown”, who is “withered like an old apple-john” and as we have seen yesterday in Henry V “I know thee not old man” in V.5. 50 ). With so many years between Falstaff and prince Hal, one would think that he knows better by now through his experience in life, and that he would prove to be a worthy mentor for the young prince. I suppose we could say that he is some sort of mentor with a really bad influence, who may give reassurance to the audience that we at least are not as fat, old, or lazy (or a combination of the three and his other characteristics) as Falstaff, which makes us feel good about ourselves. As I try to imagine a man of Falstaff’s age and a man of Hal’s age scheming together, I cannot help but seeing a comical image, as such friendships seem rather rare. Falstaff crosses all boundaries in protocol and decorum, while he, once again, should have been trained by the years in these kind of things. He does not only fancy himself on a first name basis with the prince, but he also calls his prince “lad” and other casual names. It is ironic how time could not even change Falstaff. As I read in the introduction of my edition, “Falstaff delights himself, and us, with his extraordinary knowledge of scripture –no one in Shakespeare quotes the Bible more often, and no one in all of literature is more adept at claiming divine sanction for everything he does. There is no hypocrisy here, only a rather individual interpretation of how the Old and New Testament serve as guide to our daily lives” (xxxviii). According to this version, Falstaff does behave like a true Christian, his interpretation is the only thing which differs from the other believers. I do think that there is some irony and perhaps some hypocrisy to this, however, because he seems to be very acquainted with the seven deadly sins, which must have resulted from a very incorrect reading of Scripture. Two of them, gluttony and sloth, are already presented in Hal’s accusation that “thou art so fat-witted with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon” (Act. I, 2 2-4). The fact that he thinks that he is the perfect Christian and Englishman shows us that he is quite proud, and in his stealing affairs we could see his avarice and lust for power. Falstaff mostly is engaged in sins of excess, which is probably one of the reasons that make him the comical coward he is.